Making a splash
by otpercabeth
Summary: POV of mortal who goes to Goode High school for a swim meet. Mentions of Percabeth, Solangelo and Caleo, set after HOO. One shot.


Bruce Ryan didn't like high school as in general, everyone was just so hormonal, clique-y and judgmental. He didn't like his high school in particular because Toby Norton was there. Toby Norton was the captain of the swim team, the perfect embodiment of a jock to such an extent that if the creators of any teen movie ever met him, they'd probably be able to sue for copyright violations. The main problem with Toby, aside from the obvious, was that he was captain of the only team at school Bruce cared about, which guaranteed regular and lengthy interactions with the meathead. It was now the final race of the season, Bruce just had to get through today, watch as Toby snatched the gold from the other team, and not get punched in the face again. _It'll be a breeze_ Bruce thought naively, as he sat on the bus on the way to Goode High School, _no team can beat Toby, even if they are tied with us on the leaderboard_. Thoughts like that were just asking for trouble.

Bruce sat sullenly at the side of the pool, waiting for his first race to be called. There was some issue with the loudspeaker that had already delayed the meet by half an hour, but it had given him ample opportunity to scout out the competition. For the most part the other team didn't seem special; there a few classic athletes, with a couple weedier ones that were probably just added to bulk out the team. And then there was the captain. Even in the crowd of swimmers he stood out. He was tall and tanned, with scruffy black hair and piercing green eyes. Bruce could see him joke around with his teammates, but some how he retained a serious glint in his eye. He was a natural leader; the other boys positioned themselves around him and listened when he spoke. Bruce could also tell, before the boy had even entered the water, that he was an excellent swimmer. He was lean and strong, not just athletic like the other swimmers, but as if he had battled for every muscle and knew how to use them. He moved with a natural confidence, like a leopard, he knew what every part of his body was doing without even thinking about it. It was hard to explain, but he just seemed more aware than the average person.

Suddenly the loudspeaker crackled to life, announcing the first heat. Bruce stood and filed onto his position on the starting blocks and crouched, his body tensing. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that the other team's captain was in this heat as well, a faint smile on his face as he braced himself to start.

 _BANG_

And they were off, for Bruce it was just a blur of movement and water and bubbles before his hand touched the other side of the pool. He glanced around eagerly, seeing where he had come. Third. Not bad, he had only been beaten by someone from his own team and Goode's captain. Bruce glanced at the boy and realized that he wasn't even breathing hard, and seemed to be able to move with even more self-assurance in the water than he was on land. Bruce pulled himself out of the pool and wandered over to his teammates, who congratulated him on not completely embarrassing himself.

"Dude, did you see Goode's captain though, that Percy guy? He was insane!" Fred, one of the team, was saying, "I've seen dolphins less at home in the water."

"Eh, I'll handle him" Toby sneered, "he only beat Bruce and Raj, that's no big deal."

Raj, who had placed second, glared at Toby.

"Ok" Raj growled "how about this; I bet you my tickets to next week's Knicks' game that you won't be able to beat Percy Jackson. If you lose, I get to use your car for a month."

Toby's eyes lit up "you're on loser. Don't worry, I'll let you polish my car once I win."

Bruce glanced over at Percy Jackson, who was toweling himself off on the other side of the pool. He wasn't sure if Toby would be so confident by the end of the day.

At last it was the final race, both Percy and Toby had come first in their heats and were now crouching over the starting blocks, tensed like springs. The captains were side by side as they crouched on the starting blocks, but after seeing Percy race, Bruce didn't think they'd stay like that for much longer.

 _BANG_

Toby launched himself into the water, his body rocketing forward under the power of his bulging muscles, like a bull charging at a matador. But he was already behind Percy. Although of a slightly leaner build than Toby, Percy was surging ahead, looking as natural in the water as a fish. It seemed to be over almost as soon as it had begun, Percy's hand touched the wall at the end of the pool a good three seconds before Toby. The loudspeaker somewhat unnecessarily announced Percy Jackson as the winner and his teammates surged to the side of the pool, cheering and laughing, pulling their captain from the water and slapping him on the back. Percy grinned triumphantly, and accepted the praise happily. Although, the way he held himself suggested to Bruce that he was less comfortable accepting the admiration of his teammates than he had been at any other point during the race.

Goode had done it, they had won the season and had left West High as second best. Bruce glanced in the water and could see Toby still in there, red faced and practically steaming with anger. Bruce retreated into the changing rooms as soon as he could, before Toby found a target to direct his rage at.

Bruce was outside Goode, making his way to the bus, when he saw Percy exiting the gym wearing an orange shirt and jeans, talking amicably with a friend. The friend was younger than Percy, with dark hair and clothes. Bruce was just thinking about how at ease Percy looked, and how he wished he could look like that, when he saw Toby, Fred and another West High swimmer, Milo, bearing down on Percy and his friend as they crossed the car park.

"Oi, Jackson!" Toby barked. Percy turned, his hand seeming to instinctively stray to his pocket.

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah, what was that you pulled in there?"

"What?"

"That race. How the hell did you think you'd get away with that?"

"With winning?"

"That's right." Percy raised his eyebrow at Toby, who was almost two inches taller than him.

"Look man, relax, ok? It was just a race."

"Shut up, I bet you're juicing, aren't you? That's how you managed it." Percy almost gaped at the other boy, pointedly glancing at himself and then looking at Toby's unnaturally bulging biceps.

"Sure dude, I'm totally the one here that's juicing. Look, if you want me to kick your butt again, I will. Might be a bit tricky since it's pretty difficult to tell the difference between your ass and face, I'll try though. But hey, being kicked in the head could actually improve your IQ."

Toby stood there gaping for a good ten seconds, clearly trying desperately to process the insults being hurled at him.

"Come on Percy, let's go, the others are waiting for us," the dark haired boy with Percy sounded bored.

Percy eyed Toby disdainfully "sure Nico. Wouldn't want Annabeth to threaten to kick me off the rock wall again, lava hurts."

The two started to walk on, leaving the three West High kids in the dust.

"Hey!" Toby suddenly seemed to snap out of his revere, he charged after Percy, hurling his meaty fist at the back of the boy's head, a strike that would have given the guy serious concussion for sure.

Except, he wasn't there any more. Percy had ducked out of the way instinctively, sidestepping Toby as he did so and letting the boy stumble forward as he lost his balance, sprawling across the ground.

"Jeez man, if you want to do some extra training, practicing dives into asphalt really isn't the answer, you don't have the brain cells to spare" Percy said casually, as if Toby hadn't just attacked him. Bruce could see it though; the wariness in his eyes and the tensing of his muscles that indicated that he was weighing up his assailant, assessing the threat. Toby scrambled to his feet and almost roared as he threw himself at Percy again, throwing punch after punch. Percy dodged or blocked each one easily, his breathing even and his movements smooth. It was becoming increasingly clear that he knew what he was doing.

"Look, I don't want to hurt you, but back off, you really don't want to push me" Percy said in a warning tone as he batted a clumsy punch aside. At this point Fred and Milo seemed to become aware that their leader was in a fight and they hadn't joined in yet, and they simultaneously charged Percy. Percy seemed to sense them and decide that enough was enough. Before either of the thugs had registered what was happening they were both on the ground, Fred clutching his suddenly bleeding nose and Milo clutching his stomach and wheezing, clearly winded. Toby seemed to seize onto this momentary distraction and launched himself at Percy, who only just had time to turn around before Toby was on him. Toby's advantage didn't last long though, almost instantly Percy regained control and some how caught hold of Toby's hand, putting on a painful wrist lock that soon had Toby on his knees, whimpering for Percy to let go. Percy looked down at him.

"Look. I don't know what your problem is, but I don't enjoy being attacked, some bad experiences, you know? I don't like bullies, and if you know what's good for you, you won't ever try anything like this again" Percy's eyes were intensely serious, all levity from before gone. Bruce felt a chill run down his spine; those eyes were powerful, dangerous. They said "I could make the Earth swallow you whole with a thought". The air seemed charged, and the sky was suddenly overcast, when Bruce could have sworn that it had been sunny a moment before. The wind had picked up and seemed to bring with it the promise of storms and shipwrecks.

 _What an odd thought_ Bruce reflected _this is New York, who thinks about shipwrecks?_

Percy released Toby's arm and suddenly the danger went out of the air.

"Get out of here" Percy snapped, glaring down at the three figures at his feet. They scurried away so quickly that they didn't even remember that they could stand up until they had already reached the bus.

"My gods that speech was lame. 'Don't try anything like this again?' Could you be any more full of it?"

"Shut it Nico, just be glad that you don't have to deal with going to school."

"I don't know, seems pretty fun. You nearly made that one guy pee his pants."

"He was being a jerk."

"Yeah, and you can be pretty scary when you want to be, like when Leo ate the last slice of blue pizza."

Percy snorted at this "you want to talk about scary Death Boy?"

"Point made. Still, it is fun to mess with mortals some times."

"It'd be more fun if I wasn't scared of them suddenly turning into monsters instead of just jerks. Come on, Annabeth will actually skewer us if we're late again, and I don't think Will would be too happy either."

"I don't think Leo and Calypso would mind, they're generally too busy sucking on each other's faces any way."

"Like you and Will are much better."

"We're not nearly as bad as that. You and Annabeth on the other hand…"

"We are done talking about this."

At this point the boys started walking off, and their conversation became too indistinct for Bruce to pick out words.

"Well" Bruce said to himself, stunned "that happened." He shook his head in confusion and amusement as he stepped onto the bus. It was a shame Percy seemed to have a girlfriend, but he might've been a bit much to handle any way.


End file.
